Movie stars were flown in for Essex’s largest film festival which came back to Southend with a bang at the weekend.

Southend Film Festival’s founder, Paul Cotgrove, launched the highly-anticipated event with a black tie opening gala, uniting film makers, writers, and film buffs.

Special guests included Jimmy Vee, who plays R2D2 in Disney’s Star Wars, and one of the goblins in Harry Potter.

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The jam-packed schedule included a variety of films for all to enjoy including some which were music-related, as well as historical documentaries.

A short film on the history of fishermen in Old Leigh was shown to an audience yesterday.

Paul Cotgrove, who also runs the widely acclaimed Horror-on-Sea festival, said: “Everyone was overwhelmed with the event - the local connections, and the feature film at the opening gala at the Odeon cinema.

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“The gala always sells out but sold out really quickly this year.

“People loved every second of it, I’ve had nothing but people contacting me saying what a fantastic night it was - I couldn’t ask for more than that.

“I’m proud that it means a lot to people.

“People can’t wait for this event to come around each year and it’s great to see film lovers of all ages.”

Following the opening gala, on Thursday, the rest of the festival continued at its home location, the Park Inn Palace Hotel, in Southend.

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Two cinemas were built inside the venue, screening eight films a day. Two films were shown at the same time to give people more than one option.

Paul explained the hard work that goes into the smooth running of the film festival, which has been going strong since 2009.

He added: “It’s a year’s worth of work. The second the festival ends, we have a debrief meeting and improve for next year - we never stop improving.

“We will start looking at films that are coming out to consider for next year’s festival. It’s a lot of hard work but without the help of our sponsors we couldn’t do this.”

The event saw a huge turnout for its opening gala, which was a sell-out event.

The five-day film festival is a showcase of independent writers, filmmakers and actors, and gives those in the independent film industry a chance to network.

The opening gala, which was hosted at the Victoria Shopping Centre, with screenings at the Odeon cinema, in Southend High Street, was centred around award-winning Leigh-based director, Simon J Frith and the screening of his film ‘Under the radar: The Mike Edmonds Story: The Extended Cut’.

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Simon’s film follows Mike Edmonds from his mischievous Essex childhood through his 40-year acting career, encompassing scene-stealing roles in Time Bandits, Return of the Jedi, the Harry Potter franchise and a host of other blockbuster films, stage plays and iconic TV series.

Mike Edmonds joined Simon and other guests for the world premiere screening, along with other actors and friends from his long and extensive career.

The festival, which kicked off on Thursday, ran through to the weekend with the finishing gala today.

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This year’s festival had more of a family-friendly feel, with under-14s going for free and invited to screenings catered to them. 

Special guests attended, including Southend mayor, John Lamb.